Development and characterization of a composite material with geopolymer matrix obtained by incorporation of microparticles from plastic bottles.

The composite material with a geopolymer matrix of 7 M molarity, obtained by incorporating microparticles from plastic bottles is developed and characterized in the present paper. To do this, we made cylindrical specimens whose the diameters are the half of their heights and stored them at a temperature of (31 ± 2°C). The compression test using a hydraulic press is carried out, as well as the thermal characterization test using a device respecting the experimental method of the asymmetric hot plane, which was used to determine the thermal conductivity, the volumetric heat capacity, the effusivity and the diffusivity. Then optical characterization tests on hardened samples were carried out, namely chemical analyses of the composition of the kaolin, and particle size characterization of the raw microscopic imaging of the specimens. The results found showed that as the amount of polyethylene terephthalate increases, the compressive strength decreases by 33.65 % for 10%polyethylene terephthalate and 67.77 % for 20 % polyethylene terephthalate. According to the thermal conductivity, it improves with the percentage of polyethylene terephthalate added as: at 10% it is 1.19 Wm-1 K-1 and at 20%, one has 0.595Wm-1 K-1; similarly for effusivity where we obtained 1376.05 JK-1m-2 s-1/2 and 560.81 JK-1 m-2 s-1/2 for 0 and 20% respectively. According to these results, the use of polyethylene terephthalate aggregates as a partial substitute of aluminosilicate raw material for the development of a composite can be a good alternative for recycling plastic bottle waste. The composite obtained could be used for the manufacture of ceiling lights and brick facings, and therefore would significantly reduce the amount of waste plastic produced every day in environment.